Kiwi's Crumble When Victory Seems Inevitable
On a hard Gloucestershire pitch with clouds overhead Paul Collingwood decided to have a bat, Matt Prior started, his first over in the middle went for 9, including 4 wides from Shane Bond, the second over went for 15, including a massive six from the wicket-keeper batsman who came in to replace Phil Mustard as an experiment by coach Kevin Galvin.
Vettori was warming up with a spot of football
England’s good run couldn’t keep going forever though and in the next over the New Zealand had their first wicket, Alistair Cook chipping a catch into the hands of James Franklin, gone for 11 off 6 balls.
Ian Bell was the next to come in but he only lasted 8 balls before he hit a simple catch to Craig McMillan at square leg, gone for 10 off 8 balls.
In came Owais Shah and he knuckled down with the Sussex man Prior, the partnership was eating up runs, nearly all coming from the bat of the wicket-keeper. The partnership was soon worth 50, Shah contributing only 6 of those runs.
Ian bell didn't last very long
But the Middlesex player was out soon after when he edged a catch to Daniel Vettori, James Franklin taking his first wicket of the match. Shah gonr for 6 off 19. His partner Prior reached his half century in the 14th over to add a bit of respectability to the England innings, Prior taking only 44 balls to reach his 2nd ODI half century in the 14th over. He was gone 3 overs later though, Lou Vincent taking the catch at mid-off when Prior tried to loop the ball over the opening batsman’s head, Prior gone for 53 off 49.
That sparked an all too predictable collapse in the England middle order with three wickets falling in the space of 11 balls. Collingwood, Flintoff and Tremlett were the men to take the long walk back to the pavilion. First the captain Collingwood gave McMillan his first catch of the day, and Bond his 4th wicket when he played a lazy shot. Then ‘Freddie’ gave Mark Gillespie his first wicket of the match, Lou Vincent taking his second catch, and then in the last ball of the 20th over Gillespie forced Tremlett to hit it straight to James Franklin 166-7 and really struggling.
Paul Collingwood was continuing his dismal run of form with the bat
Daniel Vettori came on in the 21st over bout couldn’t get inroads straight away. In his 4th over he struck, getting rid of Sidebottom, it was poor batting as much as good bowling, Sidebottom badly mistiming an off-drive and Taylor taking the catch at his mid-rif. Kevin Pietersen was lucky an over later when his thick outside edge was dropped by McCullum, the wicket-keeper spectacularly diving to his right but unable to hang on to the ball. The Hampshire man was soon gone though, in the 31st over he was caught by Jacob Oram off Vettori’s bowling for 35 runs, 57 balls ‘KP’ survived. At this stage England were into the tail with Panesar and Plunkett left. Monty survived the last two balls of the over. Plunkett hit two fours in a row the next over but he was gone two balls later when he was Mark Gillespie’s third victim, Franklin also taking his third catch, New Zealand needing 207 to win the match.
Kyle Mills was over the moon after England's last danger man Kevin Pietersen fell
New Zealand got off to a perfect start, the first over went for 9 and the second went for 5. But desperate times called for desperate measures and Monty Panesar was brought in to replace Liam Plunkett in the 3rd over and immediately struck when he had Lou Vincent caught by Andrew Flintoff in his second game for England in 2007, then Ross Taylor was clean bowled first ball, Panesar couldn’t get his hat-trick but he could get his third wicket in four balls when Styris handed Flintoff his second catch, and from 15-0, New Zealand were now 15-3.
Ross Taylor was bowled first ball by Monty Panesar
Things went from bad to worse for the Kiwi’s when they lost two more wickets in consecutive balls, this time the danger man Brendon McCullum was bowled by Ryan Sidebottom for 14. Then Craig McMillan was caught at mid-on by Paul Collingwood first ball and New Zealand were folding under the pressure.
It seemed from a good position New Zealand had thrown it away but they added a few more runs before the Kiwi’s lost their fifth wicket in the shape of Jacob Oram, the Manawatu native bamboozled by Panesar’s superior bowling. Gone for 13 off 16 balls. Daniel Vettori then came out into the middle to join Peter Fulton and the pair got in and batted aggressively as well as sensibly and reached 50 in the 15th over. Vettori was gone next over, he was clean bowled from a pitched up Sidebottom ball.
Captain Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen were thrilled after the dismissal of Daniel Vettori
New Zealand had their last flame of hope extinguished by Sidebottom in the 18th over when the Nottinghamshire man took out Peter Fulton’s off-stump with an in swinger around the wicket. Fulton gone for 24 off 39 deliveries, Shane Bond was the next man in and he could only last three balls before being bowled by Monty Panesar for 4, that gave ‘Monty‘ his first five wicket haul in a One Day International. Panesar and Sidebottom used up their overs so Andrew Flintoff and Liam Plunkett came into the attack, they had to wait 7 overs before the final wicket. James Franklin making a brave 24 off 37 balls before he was Flintoff’s 147th One Day International victim and the last wicket to fall, New Zealand crumbling completely to end on . England winning the match by 74 runs and winning the Natwest ODI series 2-0, the same score line as the whitewash in the npower test series.
Paul Collingwood had his second trophy of 2008 to add to the test series trophy
Monty Panesar won man of the match, and was also awarded man of the series with his 7 wickets. England now await the return of South Africa to England in a 4 test and 3 ODI series
Scorecards
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